We got your weekend: Crawfish, culture, and a creative scavenger hunt

Friday – Sunday / European Vacation : Okay, so it’s not exactly a vacation…we’ll call it a detour:

Celebrate New Orleans’ European roots at the four-day Euro-American celebration, hosted by The Alliance Francaise and The World Trade Center, aimed at increasing awareness, knowledge and understanding of the European Union in the United States.

Highlights include European cooking demos and film screenings. Friday through Sunday (2 PM at the European Corner at the French Market), guest chefs will present free European cooking demos — learn to make: Croatian bean soup Friday, “salmoreja” and “tortilla de patata” Saturday, and wiener schnitzel Sunday. The outdoor film nights will include: A free screening of 2003 French animated comedy “Les Triplettes de Belleville” Saturday at 7:30 PM at Latter Library, with live Spanish music by Flamenco Puro Sur, with Eliza Llewellyn & John Lawrence before the film; and, on Sunday, a screening of 1927 silent German expressionist sci-fi epic “Metropolis,” accompanied by music, at 8 PM at the Old U.S. Mint ($3 for members and $5 for non-members).

Saturday / I love (craw)fishies because they’re so delicious : Crawfish boils are aplenty this time of year. However, on Saturday, you can partake in a couple don’t-miss mega-boils.

– Zatarin’s will be hosting a massive boil, “The World’s Largest Crawfish Boil” (25,000 lbs. of crawdaddies, to be precise) from noon to 6 PM at Champion’s Square, to celebrate their 125th birthday. There will be performances from Flow Tribe and Big Sam’s Funky Nation. As for the eats: there will be $3 fee for 3 lbs. of crawfish; proceeds will benefit Second Harvest Food Bank.

At UNO’s Crawfish Mambo, there’s no such this as too much crawfish.

– Three pounds isn’t enough? No problem. UNO’s Crawfish Mambo (11 AM – 7 PM at UNO’s lakefront campus,) offers patrons unlimited crawfish, in addition to free parking, an Artists; Village, and a fantastic music lineup including: Rebirth, Bucktown All Stars, Glen David Andrews, and others. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the gate.

Soul Creole will perform at the Wetlands Art Tour after-party Saturday night.

Saturday / Enviornm’ARTal: The Wetlands Art Tour, an annual art event aimed at increasing community engagement with coastal erosion and wetlands restoration in New Orleans will fuse the city’s innate interest in arts within the day’s multi-location coastal awareness.

Festivity highlights will include a 9 AM group bicycle ride from the Clouet Gardens to Bayou Bienvenue; a screening of documentary “My Louisiana Love” at Cafe Istanbul; and a selection of art shows and performances from over 23 galleries and venues around St Claude, as part of the evening Second Saturday Art Walk, from 6 – 9 PM. Later, a Wetlands Art Tour. There will also be an open house from 6 – 10 PM at the Clouet Gardens, with information tables from regional environmental not-for-profits, children’s activities, food, music by Sarah Quintana and Cry You One, dance by Odile Del Giudice, and a theater performance; followed by an after-party with live music by Soul Creole at Michalopolous Studio. The events are free and open to the public. Click here for a complete list of events.

Meet Poetry Brothel denizens Saturday evening at their poetic scavenger hunt. Photo :Courtesy of Debbie Easley of Naked New Orleans Photography

Saturday / Where for art thou? : The New Orleans Poetry Brothel, a local watering hole that fosters “an alternate universe where artists, outcasts, and onlookers can mingle and be themselves (or perhaps someone else…), ” will be hosting a poetry-oriented scavenger hunt and keg party. For the hunt, the Brothel, so to speak, will scatter its poets throughout the Marigny to furnish hunting teams with riddles and challenges that send them to various neighborhood locations; the first team to complete the hunt will win a prize.

Following the scavenger hunt, there will be a keg party at the Allways Lounge (2240 St Claude), which will be free for all scavenger hunt participants. After-party happenings will include a reading from Brett Evans, poet and founder of ‘Tit Rex; music from The Call Girls; and burlesque and acrobatic performances. Participants who come dressed in burlesque, Victorian, or steampunck cosmos will receive tokens good for a free reading. Preregister for the scavenger hunt (5 – 7 PM) until Friday ($40/ team — teams capped at 6 persons, includes cover to after-party). Cover for the after-party only is $10; kegs will be tapped at 7 PM, show starts at 8 PM.